Saturday, February 19, 2011

What do you do when your beautiful old oak tree is struck by lightning? Have it carved into a ten-foot lion of course. At least that’s what Sandy River’s of Alabama has decided to do.

Four years ago, Rivers’ 100-year-old red oak tree was struck by lightning. But she couldn’t bear to let it die.

“They came out and they removed the limbs and everything. And they wanted to grind the tree down. But I couldn’t do that. Because this tree, it belongs here. And I feel a connection with this tree. And I’m all about nature. I guess that’s just the hippee in me,” joked Rivers.

A few years later, Rivers came across the wood work of Andy Cummings, a local artist known for his chainsaw artworks. The idea finally came to her like a roar in the night. The ten-foot stump would be transformed into a lion.

So far her neighbors seem excited about the rather large art piece in her front yard.